Porpoise Bay

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We left Riverton behind and headed towards the southern most point on the South Island, Slope Point. As usual we were not certain where we were camping but read about a place on Curio Bay (close to Porpoise Bay) that we run by a old surfer and that was very near a Yellow-Eyed Penguin nest.

The first stopped should have been Invercargill to get some gas, but I choose not to do this and later after we got on to the back roads towards Curio Bay this really started to stress me out, because none of the small communities that we went through had gas. Holly's guide book was written as if we were going the other direction and so she has been reading about the things to do in reverse order, when she read the beginning it stated that the gas supplies are rare in this region, yikes!

Slope Point

Anyway, we were committed to going forward, so on to Slope Point for a short hike and photo op at the southern most point, just below the 45th parallel. Then back in the car and on to Curio Bay, where we camped for the night. The camp grounds were unique, in that it was on the coast which is very, very winding, but the campsites are cut into a NZ flax field, these provided for great wind blocks, but also allowed places for our friends the sand flies to hang out, they were thicker here than any where and so DEET was in order.

Curio Bay Camp

The camp was about 400 meters from the penguin nest, they come in to nest each night at sundown, so we walked over there and watched as about 7 came in to nest. These creatures and very shy and will not come in to nest & feed their young it they feel threatened at all. Well, this was a problem since the signage at the look out stated that you could be as close a two car lengths, but what Holly had read was that you should not be on the beach at all and she was right. Holly had to ask a couple that was on the beach to come up and let the penguins get to their nest, which the folks did and the little creatures did make their way up the hill to their nests, yea! I have some video footage that I am trying to extract the penguins calls from, no luck yet, I'm lame sometimes.

The nesting area is also where some remnants of a petrified forest exists.

Curio Bay Penguins